I certainly like it better, it’s an improvement, but “game changer” is strong. I’m slowly replacing gadgets to USB C through attrition. The charge port has ceased to be the failure point for any of the gadgets I own. My pile of spare cables is still excessive, but moving further back in my storage closet because I need them less and less.
It was great!
I could get rid of a lot of “extra” cords. I can just keep one usb c and charge my phone, my mouse, and headphones with one cord. Shoot, I can even charge my controllers now too. I like that they’re becoming like outlets. Like, this is just how you get power to the device(S). Without searching for the “right” cord all the time.
Wasn’t a game changer but I’m finally happy to really only need one cable.
It changed my economy game.
Now I have to buy an USB-C to USB-A adaptor to plug USB-C stuff into my already standing devices. Honestly, no idea why didn’t they make it connector-compatible. Wasn’t that the entire point of the “U” in “USB”?
Pretty much no way to do so without losing most USB-C benefits.
What are those benefits? The only potential one I have direct experience with (besides speed) is that the connector is reversible, but even that’s small-time and a flat out objective downgrade compared to the circular connectors of the 90s, which could be plugged in regardless of orientation.
Because USB-A sucks donkey balls and needed to die in a fire.
Sure, if you want; as long as whoever does that retrofits all my USB-A devices.
Wasn’t that the entire point of the “U” in “USB”?
Nah, the point of the “U” in “USB” is so that devices communicate in a standardized way through a standardized bus. The port itself doesn’t need to be universal—after all, USB-C is I believe the first time that the host port and the device port are the same, previously there was always an A for host and B for device, even with mini-USB and micro-USB.
They really wanted to put an end to this meme.
But manufacturers wanted a micro usb replacement and this is what we got.
Wow hadn’t seen that image in a good while!
They did make USB-A cables that had a universal (up and down) connector near the end. Got one with my JBL Flip. There is a middle piece that moves to one side or the other depending on how you plug it in.
Oh that’s cool. I wonder how good its endurance is.
It’s nice that my phone charges quickly, but otherwise I don’t notice. It’s just one more cable type I need to search for.
Charges faster, but also doesn’t break all the time!
I’ve actually had the opposite experience with USB-C. It seems to break all the time. I’ve talked about it online though, and it appears that I’m the only person experiencing that. Perhaps I just had a rush of bad luck with cables and devices.
USB-C ports are especially prone to dust/lint buildup that can prevent the plugs from seating properly in the ports. Worth trying to scrape them out if they stop working right. I like to use a staple that I’ve unbent, but it has been pointed out this probably isn’t the safest tool. Just avoid the contacts and only scrape the bottom and sides of the port. It’s amazing how much crap comes out if you’ve been using the device for a while.
I buy mine on aliexpress … Whete do you get yours 😅?
Amazon
It’s pretty convenient. Now I can take my soldering iron and my power tool battery (with SN USB-C adaptor) and solder wherever the fuck I want
USB-C has changed the entire game. It’s a completely different game now. It’s like Yahtzee vs Uno. Or like Call of Duty vs Microsoft Flight Simulator. Remember playing freeze tag or dodgeball? Well it’s not like that anymore. Now it’s like playing soccer.
Really hasn’t been much of one. I still own devices that charge from MicroUSB, a lot of peripherals are still USB-A, there hasn’t been any significant movement by the industry overall to move everything to C, so mostly it means I just need to carry more cables.
Nitpick, there are no devices that charge with an USB-A port. USB-A is the side that supplies power, the side receiving power is USB-B.
USB-C did away with the distinction.
And how would you describe a wired keyboard or web cam with a hard wired connection to the device and only a USB-A end?
Your nitpick is not warranted. He never said charge with A.
True, but keyboards, mice, wireless adapters etc. haven’t moved to C yet. I use PCs and desktop peripherals and industry adoption if USBC has basically stopped 1/4 of the way in.
Not at all, the “biggest change” was with fast charging, but Li-ion batteries hate being at 0 or 100% all the time and fast charging makes it too easy to ovrtcharge to 100, and I’ve only got 1 device that can do “fast charging speeds” (over 9w). Most of my electronics are a mix of type c and micro to type a. A c - c cable is like with my fast charger is overkill for my application and is inconvenient when the vast majority of charging bricks and plugs have type a charging.
I don’t think I’ve had a single USB-C cable/connector/socket fail yet. Which can’t be said of Micro-USB.
But other than that, meh.
The stability of Mini USB I liked most. Plug a PS3 controller in 100 times and it always seemed solid. Micro USB was flimsy, but I wish the would have done usb-c like the lightning connector and made it solid. I would think it would last longer that way, but I never owned an iPhone so I could be wrong. Those could be more prone to snapping, like palm trees vs pine tree.
I broke 1 mini USB on my Blue Yeti over a decade ago, but no port would have been able to survive that torque, lol. Other than that, it’s usually rock solid
I’ve seen multiple people snap lightning plugs. Never seen a broken USBC plug yet
I work in a school with a 1 to 1 Chromebook program. I see them pretty regularly, mostly they are just bent hard and stop working, but I’ve seen some pretty impressive destruction.
Yeah, nothing’s unbreakable. I once saw a kid shove a whole ham sandwich into a cd/optical drive. People do weird stuff. It probably would have worked afterwards too if someone cleaned the mustard off the lens. Never checked, as even back in 2006 it was rare to put CDs in school computers. The age of flash drives has already arrived.
Game changer? Literally not at all. It’s a bit better.
Now i only have to flip the usb cable 3 times!
Now I need to deal with USB-C to micro USB and USB-A for my old devices. Things will be better eventually, I guess, but it’s just shifted the annoyance around for now.
My phone is slightly easier to plug in though.
So much harder to solder, making repairing my stuff more difficult :(
Also, a USB cable is no longer a USB cable. Now I have to guess what the rated wattage was, if it’s power only/data only/mixed.
All in all, a step back in my opinion.
Power only/power and data already existed with Micro USB, so that part didn’t get too much worse.
Thats interesting - how many wires are in the actual sleeve, compared to an older USB?
Oh wow, yeah that must indeed be a pain to solder. Though I guess there’s some redundancy built-in, such that if one wire goes down the cable can still deliver something?
Though I guess there’s some redundancy built-in, such that if one wire goes down the cable can still deliver something?
You guessed wrong! If one is misconnected the whole thing breaks down :) It’s a nightmare for repairability, as the plug is often the first thing to fail
The receptacle is the issue - it can have up to 24 pins (though usually it’s 12ish), all bunched up in just a slightly larger space than on a micro usb receptacle which has 4 pins. So it takes some good skill to replace.
Power only USBC cables are super against the standard and i don’t think data only cables can exist at all?
The good things:
- It really is an advantage over normal USB, that I don’t have to trun the plug three times while trying to connect it, as it can be plugged in either way.
- I find the extra protection also cool, so in case you accidentally try to plug in something you are not supposed to, it just simply won’t work instead of, I don’t know, supplying too high voltage or something.
So far it caused a lot of headaches though:
- Way too often I found myself in a situation, where I couldn’t use some devices, because I didn’t have the necessary adapter. This issue should be temporary though, so I’m not complaining.
- Some cables are not compatible with some devices, and it can be really confusing. Before I knew this, I was certain that a monitor and a laptop of mine weren’t compatible for a long time, until someday I read about this and tried it again with a different cable.
- In most cases this is not an issue, but rarely I find that the USB type-c plug is not as robust as a micro USB for example. On my girlfriend’s Samsung S8 it always slipped out, so the contact was terrible, while a micro USB plug does have some clamps to properly attach. Again, in most cases the type-c plug is clicking in properly, so it’s not an acute problem.
